The department took the action on Wednesday after ongoing issues with runoff and sediment at the Bluestone Coal Poca Surface Mine, on the border of Wyoming and McDowell counties.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has suspended a permit for a mine in southern West Virginia operated by Gov. Jim Justice.
The department took the action on Wednesday after ongoing issues with runoff and sediment at the Bluestone Coal Poca Surface Mine, on the border of Wyoming and McDowell counties.
The DEP has issued 13 notices of violation and 16 cessation orders to the mine in the past 12 months. The mine’s permit was not renewed, meaning Bluestone could not legally remove coal from the site. Yet a federal inspection in May revealed mining activity taking place anyway.
Willie Dodson, coal impacts program manager for Appalachian Voices, says Bluestone should be reclaiming the site, as federal law requires.
“I just think it is so disappointing that there are coal miners who were employed to scrape the coal out of the ground up there who are now not being given the hours that they are entitled to to actually reclaim the land,” he said.
Runoff from the mine flows into a tributary of the Guyandotte River, where the Guyandotte River crayfish is protected as an endangered species.
The two environmental groups that raised concerns about the impact of surface mining on the crayfish – Appalachian Voices and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy – call it an “indicator species” for the health of rivers and streams.
A federal inspection in November by the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement found that DEP should have revoked the permit.
Instead, Bluestone Coal will have until March 7 to appeal the permit’s suspension by DEP.
Dodson says DEP has the authority under federal law to take a more aggressive approach.
“DEP should revoke the permit, should seize the bond and should use the bond money to hire contractors to do the reclamation work,” he said.
Justice was elected to the U.S. Senate in November and will take the oath of office next week. He’s been assigned to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
In what was billed as his final virtual press briefing as governor Friday, Justice took no questions from reporters.
Residents of the Kanawha Valley may have noticed smoke in the air. Emily Rice reports that the Division of Forestry is fighting about 82 fires in the state’s southern coalfields.
Officials are hopeful that Thursday’s rain showers will calm the thousands of acres that have burned across the southern region of West Virginia this week.
Due to ongoing dry weather conditions, Gov. Jim Justice issued a burn ban on Monday.
Jeremy Jones, director of the Division of Forestry, said the ban helped with prevention, but Thursday’s rain will help firefighters get ahead of the fire.
“Today’s rains really knocked things down, which will give us an opportunity to get in and really gain some good containment on the large fires that are currently burning down in that area,” Jones said.
According to Jones, the forestry department has seen about 82 fires in the last week and those fires have consumed about 5,500 acres of land in Kanawha, Boone, Fayette, Wyoming, Mingo, Lincoln and Logan counties.
Jones also said all the fires were caused by humans and are under investigation.
“They were all human-caused, they’re under investigation, and we wouldn’t release that information specifically,” Jones said.
Smoke from the fires affected air quality in Charleston Thursday, bringing the area’s air quality index (AQI) to 140 at around noon, which is unhealthy for people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens.
At 4:19 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2024, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issued a Code Orange Air Quality Advisory for southern West Virginia lasting through Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024.
Wildfire smoke contains fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, which are microscopic solid or liquid droplets that can be inhaled and cause serious health problems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
PM2.5 is considered unhealthy for “Code Orange” and sensitive groups once the Air Quality Index surpasses 100, according to AirNow, a website that publishes air quality data. The chart measures from green to maroon with green being good and maroon being hazardous for all.
According to the Air Now Fire and Smoke Map, by Thursday evening, the Kanawha Valley’s AQI fell to 52 which is considered moderate.
A Code Orange Air Quality Advisory means that air pollution concentrations within the region may become unhealthy for sensitive groups. Sensitive groups include children, the elderly, and people suffering from asthma, heart disease, or other lung diseases.
The effects of air pollution can be minimized by avoiding outdoor exercise or strenuous activity.
“This is the kind of polluted air that can impact them (sensitive groups) the most,” Megan Keebler, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Charleston, said. “Typically, what we advise during this time is just to avoid being outside as much as possible. If you have to be out there just for like, short stints at most, maybe even moving anything outdoors to rescheduling them or moving indoors, if at all possible, and wait until the air quality gets better before resuming outdoor activities.”
Residents of Wyoming County, West Virginia, say there’s something wrong with a local creek. One resident says fish are dying, and even pets.
This conversation originally aired in the June 2, 2024 episode of Inside Appalachia.
Residents of Wyoming County, West Virginia, say there’s something wrong with a local creek.
One resident, Dakota Day, says fish are dying, and even pets. He recently spoke with Mountain State Spotlight reporter Erin Beck.
“You see all these chicken pens?” Day said to Beck. “Every one of these was full of roosters last year.”
Day gave his roosters creek water. But he noticed “white stuff coming down the creek, all oily.” Then, “all my roosters got sick and died.”
Dakota Day (left) and his sister Christina (wearing the brown coat) receive a bottled water donation from Richard Altizer (middle) and James Christian (right).
Inside Appalachia Host Mason Adams reached out to Beck to learn more.
The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.
Adams: Your story in Mountain State Spotlight is about a community along Indian Creek in Wyoming County, West Virginia. What happened there?
Beck: More than a year ago, a Wyoming County resident, James Christian, found his backyard was flooded. It turned out to be an eruption of mine water from underground. It was about two feet high. It was rising so rapidly that his friend Richard Altizer had to run over and help him dig a ditch to nearby Indian Creek to keep it from seeping into their house. They have black mold in their house because of it.
I found out about it because during the end of the recent [West Virginia] legislative session, Del. Adam Vance, who represents Wyoming County, pleaded with his other lawmakers in a floor speech for help. He said he had tried every avenue, different state agencies, and it had been going on for a year. He hadn’t been able to see a resolution. So as soon as I heard about it, I went straight to the Capitol to ask him about it. He told me who I should talk to in the community. I traveled there as soon as I could. I saw and heard some things that were very alarming to me.
One family told me that their water comes out of the spigot black in the mornings. Lots of people told me that since the mine water had started seeping into the nearby Indian Creek that it had gotten into their well water, and they were very sick because of it. A lot of people described nausea and chronic fatigue. They can’t let their kids fish both because of safety concerns, and because the fish are dying.
At the Christians’ house, there’s still an overwhelming smell of sulfur. It makes James’s wife so sick that she’s mostly bedridden. One couple that does have an expensive water filtration system showed me that, even after the water had been filtered numerous times, it was still brownish yellow, and they’re expected to drink it. Bottled water is donated, sometimes, but not enough to use every day, [and] not enough for showers and laundry. Richard told me that independent testing showed there was arsenic in the water. I myself could see that the creek was not a normal creek. There was slime floating on the water. There was foam on the water. James and Richard showed me a picture of a dead deer that they had gotten along the river bank; they actually saw that its veins were bright yellow.
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection workers collect water samples from Indian Creek, which dirty mine water flows into in Wyoming County.
Photo Credit: Erin Beck
Adams: All that sounds like a terrible mess. The agency in West Virginia that’s responsible for environmental compliance is the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). How has it responded to this issue?
Beck: Shortly after this event happened, the DEP filed a lawsuit against the owner of the Pinnacle Mining Complex. The Pinnacle Mining Complex is an inactive mine. They found that flooding within it was causing so much pressure that it burst upward through a former household well in James’ backyard. They filed a lawsuit against Pinn MC Wind Down Co., which owns the Pinnacle Mining Complex. But then the DEP allowed the coal company to dig another ditch rather than the ditch that Richard and James had dug. That still resulted in the mine water reaching Indian Creek. The DEP is also conducting water sampling. I saw that they were conducting water sampling while I was there. But in the meantime, people are still sick and getting sicker.
Adams: And it sounds like this has potential to be a bit bigger issue. Indian Creek flows into the Guyandotte River and eventually down to the Ohio River. But it does sound like there’s not been an easy fix.
Beck: Mountain State Spotlight has reported in the past on some of the reasons why this sort of thing isn’t easy to fix. We’ve reported that courts have been allowing coal companies that are dealing with the inevitable decline of the coal industry by going bankrupt and then establishing spin-off companies [and] are allowing them to evade responsibility because of that bankruptcy.
We’ve also reported that public officials haven’t prepared for the decline of the coal industry by preserving enough money to pay for environmental restoration in places like Wyoming County. Coal companies in the area have also been blaming each other. Once DEP filed the lawsuit, the spin-off company accused Bluestone Resources, which is a company that’s owned by the governor’s family, of being responsible because it had purchased the flooding mine, Pinnacle Mining Complex.
Bluestone countered that they weren’t responsible because, when they purchased it, they didn’t assume responsibility for any and all violations. Then Bluestone sued another mining company that’s right there in the area, Alpha Metallurgical Resources. So that’s resulted in the case being delayed and delayed. It’s more than a year later, and the problem is just getting worse. And meanwhile, none of the coal companies that I contacted responded to me about what they plan to do.
Adams: What’s the current status of the court situation?
Beck: The judge ordered all three companies that are playing a part in this to secure and seal the mine shafts to prevent the flooding. They haven’t done it because they’re still arguing about who’s responsible. There have been several hearings where the companies are supposed to update the judge on what kind of progress they’ve made, but they basically keep evading blame or saying they need more time. After my story came out last month, there was another status hearing, but they asked for more time once again.
James Christian, of Wyoming County, points out that foam is visible on Indian Creek, which he said has contributed to sickness in the community and animal deaths.
Photo Credit: Erin Beck
Adams: So has the problem been fixed? Are residents seeing any difference?
Beck: No. It’s actually getting worse since the story came out. I checked in with one woman who I had spoken to when I was in Wyoming County. She said previously her water didn’t come out black in the morning, like some other residents had experienced. But her water now is coming out black in the morning. Now she’s sick with extreme nausea and fatigue. She even told me that she recently went on a trip to another county, and she felt like her old self again. She said her energy was restored and she felt like a healthy person. As soon as she got back to Wyoming County and had to rely on the water there again, she was back to being sick.
I’ve also seen videos on Facebook. Richard, who I mentioned earlier, has taken the lead on attempting to organize the community around demanding that the coal companies and DDP take responsibility. He posts videos that show that the Indian Creek is looking worse since it was when I visited it. There are places where the creek water itself is black now. Meanwhile, there’s concern that it is flowing into the Guyandotte River. People were telling me that they were affected now and weren’t necessarily affected even a month ago. So the problem is obviously spreading.
I also just wanted to mention that I’ve been a West Virginia resident my entire life, and I always hear about environmental problems in the southern coalfields. I’ve read stories about people being concerned about health problems or the quality of their water. But it really took being there for me to understand the gravity of the issue. Just hearing the disillusionment and the desperation and anger in people’s voices, and seeing the water that they’re expected to drink was very alarming to me.
I really hope that because more news coverage is focusing on this issue, that attention will also be paid to other struggling communities in areas where there are abandoned mines and where coal companies have failed to restore the land, and that they can get some help, too. I hope that Wyoming County rapidly gets some help. I also hope people take away from this that West Virginia is a state where we haven’t adequately prepared for the decline of the coal industry. This sort of thing could happen to them, too. And I hope they don’t just brush aside stories as not something that can happen to them, because this is a widespread problem and will be an ongoing problem.
According to MSHA, the lowest number of fatalities on record in coal mines – five – occurred in 2020. A decline in coal production related to the COVID-19 pandemic was a likely factor.
Eleven coal miners were killed in 2021 and 2022 as production rebounded. Nine were killed in 2023.
Mine safety has improved, but the number of miners has also declined, according to MSHA data.
A century ago, miners died by the thousands every year. As recently as the 1960s, hundreds died every year. The last time more than 100 miners perished in any given year was 1984, when the industry employed more than 200,000. Employment has fallen under 100,000 every year since 2015.
In Pineville, West Virginia, a town of 500, residents filled up the front rows of the county courtroom recently. They came to hear the latest legal update on a battle some have been fighting for generations – securing clean water. Bobby Lee Keen and his wife Patsy attended the hearing. “How come they have people living like they’re in a third world country in the United States of America?” asked Bobby Keen.
In Pineville, West Virginia, a town of 500, residents filled up the front rows of the county courtroom recently. They came to hear the latest legal update on a battle some have been fighting for generations – securing clean water. Bobby Lee Keen and his wife Patsy attended the hearing.
“How come they have people living like they’re in a third world country in the United States of America?” asked Bobby Keen.
The Keens have lived in their house for 20 years, but they have never had clean drinking water. They say the only way they can drink the orange water that comes out of the faucet is by using it to make coffee.
Keen said the water quality has gotten worse in the last year, and he and his wife have had stomach issues and rashes. Other residents have reported similar symptoms.
And they’re not sure what could be causing it. Regardless, Keen believes one thing to be true.
“There’s something getting in that water,” he said.
One of the three places along the creek where water started coming out, and with it, a white stringy slime.
Courtesy of David Stover
A year ago, down the street from the Keens’ house, water started flowing out of the ground in the middle of a field, forming a pool. All that water led to a mold infestation in a nearby property owner’s house. The water had a rotten egg smell and white stringy slime.
Who Is Responsible?
Just below the surface of that pungent pool is an old mine, previously owned by the now-defunct Pinnacle Mining Company.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) tested the water and said that the results indicated that it had been polluted by the abandoned mine.
Nicolas Zegre, a Mountain Hydrologist at West Virginia University (WVU), said holes like the one in Pineville are known as artesian wells. They naturally push water from aquifers to the surface.
“When you start mining, the geologic layers, the below ground layers,” Zegre said. “You’re fundamentally changing how water is going to flow through the earth.”
Now, the pool of smelly, murky water has become a steady stream that flows into Indian Creek.
The DEP ordered Pinnacle to remedy the situation. When Pinnacle failed to act, it took the company to court.
There is one major problem here. Pinnacle Mining Company no longer legally exists. As part of its bankruptcy, the company’s assets and liabilities were sold. But to whom?
“That’s the million dollar question,” Matt Hepler, a scientist with Appalachian Voices, said.
Court documents show Pinnacle was, at least in part, bought by Bluestone Mining Resources and is owned by Gov. Jim Justice. However, Justice said Bluestone is not responsible.
Justice answered this question: “Many people along Indian Creek in Wyoming county are sounding the alarms about water contamination possibly coming from a mine that your company purchased, and now owns. As both the governor and the owner of said company is there anything you are planning on doing for these folks so that they can have clean drinking water?” by saying he is not responsible.
Photo Credit: WV Governor’s Office
“I’m all for them having good clean drinking water. But you can’t, you can’t blame me on this one,” Justice said at one of his regular press briefings. “The companies that we have are so distantly involved in this, it’s unbelievable. You know, the DEP is working on the issue.”
Hepler said this fits into a bigger context of the mess that ensues after a coal company goes bankrupt.
“They can’t even figure out, they’re arguing who that new owner is. So they’re not even sure. They’re just pointing fingers at each other,” Hepler said.
Which raises another big picture question.
“Who gets left holding the liability when these coal companies go out?” Hepler asked.
Will The Problem Be Fixed?
In court on April 4, the presiding Wyoming County Judge Derek Swope demanded the companies figure out who is responsible by their next court date in May.
Outside the courthouse, community members said they felt disappointed. Richard Altizer has been delivering water bottles to some of the residents affected by the water crisis. He and others were hoping the courts would have ordered Bluestone and Alpha Metallurgical Resources to cease all operations until they fixed some of the problems associated with Pinnacle’s abandoned mine.
Disappointed residents, some affected by the water crisis, leave the court room.
Photo Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“If that judge were to order that mines and the gas companies shut down until that is fixed they’d be out there tomorrow fixing it,” Altizer said.
In their lawsuit, the DEP and the man whose house was flooded, are asking for injunctive relief. They don’t want money for the damaged property or the health issues the water has caused, they only want what has been broken to be fixed. But residents are frustrated by what they say is a year of inaction.
“Now that the mine gets to operate, and the gas wells keep doing what they’re doing, everything’s hunky-dory with the poor people down here. And it’s frustrating,” Altizer said. “But like I said, we still got legal rights.”
The community is considering a class action lawsuit.
Richard Altizer has been delivering water bottles to community members paid for through crowd funding sites and city officials.
Photo Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Is The Water Toxic?
In the meantime, the question looms, is the water safe?
Grace Dever, an expert on water and its connection to people’s lives, works at WVU’s Center For Resilient Communities. She affirmed what residents have been saying about their everyday use of the water from contaminated wells.
“That can result in huge GI issues, skin rashes,” Dever said. “It can even lead to longer-term things like cancer and things like that.”
Patsy Keen brought photos with her to court in hoping to show someone involved in the legal process what the water was doing to her skin while she was routinely showering in it.
Photo Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Even though the DEP found the mine was the source of the contamination, it said the water quality passes all mine reclamation standards. But members of the community are skeptical. Terry Fletcher, with the DEP, said the agency is doing everything within its power to take on the issue.
“I know, there’s been kind of a narrative pushed out there that we’re only testing for one to two, three to four things when we’re testing for dozens and dozens of parameters,” Fletcher said.
But Hepler from Appalachian Voices said the tests that the department has done so far might not show the true water condition.
“Now when you test the water column, which is just to say test the water without any of that slime in it,” Hepler said. “The water has been coming back fine, according to West Virginia DEP standards.”
Hapler believes the water does pass mine reclamation standards, as well as Clean Water Act standards, but he said that even still that doesn’t translate to the water being safe.
And there is another set of data that is being ignored, said WVU’s Grace Dever.
“Community members are experts of their own lives,” Dever said. “And so I think like their lived experience of knowing, like recognizing the smell, noticing the color change in their community, and recognizing also if any rashes are appearing, or if they’re feeling funky, I think that is scientific knowledge. And I think that we should be taking these observations from the community a lot more seriously.”
For Bobby Keen, whose faucet still has orange water coming out, he said he isn’t angry at anyone, he just wants his family and community to have access to safe water.
**Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story said even though the DEP found the mine was the source of the contamination, it said the water quality passes all mine reclamation standards. It has been changed to: Even though the DEP found the mine was the source of what residents believe is contaminated water, it says the water quality passes all state water quality standards.
